What Insurance Do Toronto Pet Groomers Need

What Insurance Do Toronto Pet Groomers Need?

January 18, 2024 / 5 mins read

You make our pets look fabulous. As a pet groomer, you need specialized insurance to protect yourself against mishaps and mistakes that can happen when you are grooming pets.

Do you own a dog or pet grooming salon or are you a mobile groomer in Toronto? Do you groom in your home or do you work in a pet salon or pet spa? You know that pet safety is paramount. A pet groomers insurance package is designed specifically for groomers and the work that they do.

Do you work as a pet groomer in Toronto’s downtown core or does your animal grooming business serve clients in one of Toronto’s many neighbourhoods.

Do you work in Scarborough, Etobicoke, North York, York, East York or are you in Bolton, Caledon, Hamilton, Markham, Vaughan, Newmarket, Aurora, Orangeville, Richmond Hill, or Milton?

Wherever you work as a dog, cat groomer or animal groomer in Toronto, Greater Toronto Area (GTA) or anywhere in Ontario, your Western Financial Group business insurance expert will give you top-notch insurance advice and ways to save on insurance for your pet grooming business.

Why do I need pet groomers’ insurance?

As a Toronto pet groomer, you should have enough insurance to protect yourself from a lawsuit should a pet be injured and property damage.

Who needs pet insurance?

  • Pet groomers
  • Pet trainers
  • Pet daycare
  • Pet therapies
  • Dog walkers
  • Kennels

Pet grooming insurance can help protect you from these 3 common claims:

1. Your pet salon was vandalized and some of the office equipment was stolen. Your commercial property insurance can help pay to replace the stolen equipment and repair any office damage.

2. While clipping around a dog’s ears, you accidentally clip one of its ears, causing an injury and bleeding. Your commercial general liability insurance may cover the dog’s medical expenses and pay for you to defend yourself should the dog’s owner sue you.

3. You shampoo a client’s dog and it has an allergic reaction to the shampoo. Your professional liability insurance, also called errors and omissions (E&O) insurance, would help cover your legal expenses should the pet owner sue you.

Here’s an insurance checklist for Toronto pet groomers:

  • Do you have the best business insurance rate that suits your animal grooming business?
  • Do you have the right amount for your deductible and regularly review it to make sure it’s the right amount for your business?
  • Do you know the value of your equipment and tools and are they properly insured?
  • Are you or your employees using personal vehicles for your work?

At Western, we are business insurance experts. We will save you time and money by doing the insurance shopping for you to find the right package at the right value for your Toronto pet grooming business.

How much does pet groomers’ insurance cost?

Here are factors that insurance companies consider when they are pricing your pet insurance policy:

  • Your location
  • Your experience and certifications
  • The types of services you provide as a Toronto pet groomer
  • The types of animals you groom
  • How many employees you have
  • The equipment you own and its value
  • Your annual revenue
  • Do you have any past insurance claims?

What kind of insurance does a Toronto pet groomer need?

Pet groomers’ insurance is a package of insurance coverages that will protect your business. It should include protection against on-the-job risks that you face, such as injuries to pets and property damage.

You may be asked for proof of insurance with prospective clients, and lenders (banks) typically require it.

Here’s what you can expect to be in your pet grooming insurance package:

Professional liability insurance: You will also hear it called errors and omissions (E&O) insurance. This type of insurance covers you as a Toronto pet groomer when you provide advice or services to clients. For example, if you recommend that a customer’s dog change its diet and then the dog gets sick, professional liability insurance can cover your legal expenses should the pet owner sues you.

Commercial general liability (CGL) insurance: This type of insurance provides coverage for third-party claims of bodily injury or property damage related to your pet grooming business.

For example, if a pet in your care bites someone and requires medical treatment, general liability insurance can help cover the costs of any resulting legal claims or damages.

Commercial property insurance: It covers your business’s physical property, such as buildings, inventory, and supplies. Commercial property insurance covers damage caused by fire, theft, vandalism, or natural disasters. If a fire damages your animal grooming salon, for example, commercial property insurance can cover repairing or replacing the damaged property.

Tools and equipment insurance: You use tools and equipment in your dog grooming business.

Let’s say you have a mobile spa and travel to groom dogs. This type of insurance provides financial protection for any transportable tools or equipment that your grooming business uses to do work.

Tools and equipment Insurance can provide reimbursement to repair or replace tools if they are lost, damaged, or stolen. Insured events apply to tools and equipment that are vandalized, stolen, lost, or damaged by fire or flood.

Any item valued at less than $1,500 is considered a tool. Anything valued above $1,500 is considered equipment.

Cyber liability insurance: Do you keep client information online and take online payments? If so, your Toronto dog grooming business could be hacked by cyberthieves. Cyber liability insurance will help protect you.

Without cyber insurance, you will have to pay out of your pocket for the cost of restoring your system. You may also be liable for damages to third parties whose information has been stolen and you may have to pay for notification expenses to inform customers affected by a breach.

Business interruption insurance: This coverage supports you when your Toronto cat and dog grooming business can’t operate due to a covered loss.

There are a number of losses that can force your grooming business to shut down. Some examples include:

  • Damage to your equipment from fire or vandalism
  • A major reduction in revenue due to a client/supplier facing losses of their own
  • A disruption in your supply chain

Business interruption insurance can help with expenses such as:

  • Payroll
  • Rent
  • Utilities
  • Property taxes
  • Alarm monitoring
  • Relocation of your business

Business interruption insurance can mean the difference between recovering from a loss and your pet grooming business closing permanently.

Commercial auto insurance: Your personal auto insurance generally does not cover you if you are travelling for work as a dog groomer. You will need commercial auto insurance.

What about insurance for a mobile dog grooming business?

If you are a Toronto dog groomer and you operate out of a van or trailer and you travel to customers’ homes to groom their pets, you still need pet grooming insurance.

Ask your Western Financial Group business insurance expert about how your mobile grooming business needs to be insured.

What do I do if my Toronto dog grooming business has an insurance claim?

  • Contact your broker immediately after any business-related mishap. Waiting to file a claim can confuse insurers about the severity of the damages to your business.
  • Know your policy so that when you contact your broker you are familiar with what will be covered or not.
  • Document the damage. Take photos right away and write down what happened.
  • Do not throw away damaged goods after taking photos. Keep the physical evidence so that your adjustor can see it.
  • Do not invite lawsuits. Don’t say anything that could be used against you, especially if you aren’t sure what happened.
  • Be honest about what your damaged property is worth. Damaged commercial property is generally valued according to its actual cash value or replacement value.

Ask your Western business insurance expert to help you get the right coverage at the right value to protect the work that your Toronto pet grooming business does.

Western Insurance has licensed BUSINESS INSURANCE EXPERTS to get your Toronto pet grooming business the right insurance package. Our experts are available now to help you navigate the business insurance journey to protect your pet grooming business.

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